Du Zhongxiao sat in the commander's mansion, looking at the official documents sent by Zhao Zi, and frowned. According to the news he knew now, Gao Chang was nostalgic for the Khitan, and the other was suspicious of the Song Dynasty and could not make up his mind to send envoys. As Zhao Zi entered Yizhou, the war between Gao Chang and Hei Khan had stopped and was drawing troops back to Gaochang, as if he had the intention of fighting with force.

After putting down the official document, Du Zhongxiao thought for a while and said to Li Fugui on the other side: "How long can Gaochang's supplies last? Also, it snowed a few days ago and the wind was strong in winter. Will the railway transportation be affected? Did those who built the railway stop?"

Li Fugui bowed: "Ji Shuai, Gaochang's materials can be supported by the reserves, and food and grass can last for half a year, but gunpowder, guns and bullets cannot do it. If a big battle occurs, the battle may be over. The train can be taken, but the speed will be relatively slow. It may be twenty or thirty miles in one hour, less than half of what it was normally before. Most of the railway construction has stopped, and only the people who build roadbeds are still under construction."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Zhao Zi's three thousand soldiers are in Yizhou, which puts too little pressure on Gaochang. Although Gaochang is small, he will not be afraid of thousands of people. If tens of thousands of people are in Yizhou, the entire Western Region will be shocked. You order the people who build roads in the west to continue to build roads as long as possible."

Li Fugui bowed his promise.

Du Zhongxiao said again: "The imperial court allocated a lot of materials to build a railway to the Western Regions, but it was far from enough to take down Yizhou. At the lowest point, the trade routes in the Western Regions must be opened. Now Gaochang is hesitating and only allows the trade routes to the north to Khitan, but actually cut off the trade routes. This matter cannot continue like this. By the next year, when the railway arrives in Yizhou, Gaochang will either surrender or fight one."

Li Fugui said: "Jingshuai, if you fight Gaochang, I don't know what Hei Khan will do?"

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "What else can it be? As soon as the court enters the Western Regions, it will be the common enemy of both sides. Now, only in Yizhou, the war between Gaochang and Hei Khan has stopped. If the army enters, Gaochang and Hei Khan will join forces and fight with the court, it will not be uncommon."

Li Fugui said: "I heard that Hei Khan is a big country compared to Gaochang. If the two countries join forces, will there be a threat?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "As long as we attack along the railway and do not advance aggressively, there is nothing wrong with the two countries. Black Khan is the Green Cult, and Gaochang is the Buddha's Kingdom. The conflict between the two sides is very deep. It is possible to have a temporary alliance. If the war fails, how can we be close? There is no need to consider this matter. As long as the railway arrives in Yizhou, everything is not a problem. The Western Regions are too big, and there are hundreds of miles between the two places, so it is not easy to build a road."

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao stood up and walked outside the official hall. Turning around, the Yinshan Mountains in the north lie like a giant dragon, lying under the sky. The sun shone brightly in the sky, but there was no warmth. The cold wind gently swept across the treetops.

From Gaochang to Yutian, along the edge of the desert and at the foot of the mountain, there will be about 3,000 miles. Even simple railways such as Hezhou to Juyan will take several years, not a matter of a day or a night. The limit you can achieve is that the railway will arrive in Yizhou next year, and the army will enter Gaochang City and take down the basin in that area. It will take many years for Yuchi Sanlang to restore the country.

Thinking of this, Du Zhongxiao was a little irritated. Hequ Road was actually not small. He took only a few months to occupy it, but now he felt that he had no idea how to start when facing the Western Regions. The place there was too big and the population was too small, so time was needed.

Since the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the Silk Road in the Western Regions has actually been cut off, and China's foreign exchanges have been changed to maritime trade. The main reason is that after the rise of the Song Dynasty, it was impossible to restore the territory of the previous generations and the road was not smooth. In Central Asia, there were still a large number of Sogdian merchants, but the road to trafficking into the Central Plains was blocked by the Dangxiang. Without the Central Plains market, the Silk Road would have no meaning of existence.

Du Zhongxiao wanted to march into the Western Regions, but he wanted to open up the east-west trade routes on land under the conditions of Central Asia still booming. At this time, the Byzantine Empire still existed. As long as Central Asia is opened and the east-west trade routes are smooth, everything will have different conditions.

When Du Zhongxiao thought of this, he felt a little irritable. There was nothing wrong with Hequ Road. The conditions for going to war against the Khitan and Dangxiang were immature. The Western Regions, which were not difficult, were simply unable to touch because of distance and population.

Li Fugui came out of it and said to Du Zhongxiao: "Jiangshuai, Deputy Envoy Zhang of Juyan, wrote a letter to ask that the road from Juyan to Yizhou is still accessible, and whether more people will be sent to Yizhou. The railway leads to Juyan, where the troops and horses there are already much larger radius."

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "Tell Deputy Envoy Zhang that the troops are in Juyan first, as long as they protect the road construction team. There are only two important places between Juyan and Yizhou, one is the foot of Mazong Mountain, which can reach Dangxiang Guazhou and the other is Xingxing Gorge. Neither of these two places can be stationed in large numbers, and there is no place to find water if there are too many people. In this case, it is useless to increase the garrison in Yizhou. Only when the railway reaches Xingxing Gorge can the army enter Yizhou."

Li Fugui responded and said, "Zhang Ke's army has moved to Hezhou a few days ago and is distributed on the railway line from Shengzhou to Hezhou. I heard that Dangxiang has been constantly building artillery cities in the past two years and increasing its strength. If Zhang Ke's army leaves, will it be-"

Du Zhongxiao said: "After Jia Kui arrived at Hequ Road, he had been studying in Wudu Juncheng and led the troops on Linfu Road. His troops were more than 20,000, and with the assistance of the troops on Fuyan Road, Dangxiang was unable to attack. In the past two years, the troops on Qinfeng Road had completed training, and the army was concentrated in Zhenrong Army. Dangxiang had to guard against Lingzhou. How brave are they to dare to attack the troops on Hequ Road? We don't have to consider Dangxiang."

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao sighed: "In addition to the troops under Jia Kui from Linfu Road, there are now 170,000 troops on Hequ Road. If there is no military achievements, wouldn't it be the same as other routes? Therefore, this time when the railway is built to Yizhou, it will have to attack heavily!"

Li Fugui was shocked: "Jingshuai means that if Gao Chang does not come to pay tribute in time, should he use force?"

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Everything is ready, so you can't wait for them to come. These people are still the same as before. They thought there would be no changes in one or two years. But they didn't know that with the railway, if the railway arrived at the place in one or two years, they could not come according to the previous geography."

According to the previous habits, it took about a year to go from Gaochang to Beijing. After the Hequ Road War, Gaochang spent a few years to find the right way to get along with the Song Dynasty. But now it is different. Once the railway is built, the distance is further distance, and the army can quickly arrive. For the Song Dynasty, the cost of long-distance expedition was greatly reduced.

After the two Khitan emperors were established, the Song Dynasty's railway stretched along the front line, and when Hebei Road arrived at Baozhou, hundreds of thousands of troops could be advanced at any time. According to the degree of mobilization of the Song Dynasty when fighting against the Khitan before, it was not difficult to concentrate millions of troops on the front line. Such a large number of troops was unbearable for the Khitan, especially the Song Dynasty had not yet fully utilized its national strength.

With the railway, the country's mobilization ability has been greatly improved, and the impact of war on the people has been greatly reduced. Du Zhongxiao's idea of ​​the Western Regions was based on this. One direction was a 100,000 army, which was not a particularly big deal for the Song Dynasty today, but for Gaochang and Hei Khan in the Western Regions, it was irresistible. Holding an absolute superior force and waiting here boringly is not a happy thing.
Chapter completed!